ID :
200474
Wed, 08/10/2011 - 17:41
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/200474
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ASEAN, Japan to chart 10-yr plan to boost Japanese businesses in SE Asia
MANADO, Indonesia, Aug. 10 Kyodo - Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plan to develop a long-term plan for strategic economic cooperation aimed at helping Japanese businesses refocus their operation in the region, a senior ASEAN official said.
ASEAN Deputy Secretary General Pushpanathan Sundram told Kyodo News in an interview Tuesday that the 10-year plan is expected to be ready for adoption next year.
The plan is aimed at promoting a strategic partnership in trade and investment, infrastructure development, human resources, technology transfer and other areas of economic cooperation, ASEAN sources said.
ASEAN economic ministers and Japan's Minister of Economy Trade and Industry Banri Kaieda are expected to discuss the plan at a bilateral meeting Saturday to be held on the sidelines of the annual gathering of ASEAN economic ministers in Indonesia's northern Sulawesi province.
Pushpanathan said the idea of a strategic partnership was developed at a meeting of Japanese businesses in Kuala Lumpur in June this year.
''The (ASEAN) economic ministers are excited about it and they want to know how we can help the Japanese businesses because Japan was very much involved in ASEAN's own development during the 80s and 90s,'' Pushpanathan said.
With wages rising in China, Pushpanathan said, Japanese companies are refocusing their attention on ASEAN, which has been developing as a single market.
The Japanese private sector feels that ''maybe ASEAN is a good destination for investment because we have countries at different levels of development,'' Pushpanathan said.
ASEAN members include labor intensive countries such as Cambodia and Laos, and more advanced economies like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
''So you have a choice -- you can build a production base, you can spread out your production networks,'' Pushpanathan said.
Two-way trade between Japan and the 10 ASEAN member countries swelled 27 percent to US$203.9 billion last year.
Foreign direct investment from Japan to the region increased to $8.4 billion last year from $3.8 billion in 2009.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
ASEAN Deputy Secretary General Pushpanathan Sundram told Kyodo News in an interview Tuesday that the 10-year plan is expected to be ready for adoption next year.
The plan is aimed at promoting a strategic partnership in trade and investment, infrastructure development, human resources, technology transfer and other areas of economic cooperation, ASEAN sources said.
ASEAN economic ministers and Japan's Minister of Economy Trade and Industry Banri Kaieda are expected to discuss the plan at a bilateral meeting Saturday to be held on the sidelines of the annual gathering of ASEAN economic ministers in Indonesia's northern Sulawesi province.
Pushpanathan said the idea of a strategic partnership was developed at a meeting of Japanese businesses in Kuala Lumpur in June this year.
''The (ASEAN) economic ministers are excited about it and they want to know how we can help the Japanese businesses because Japan was very much involved in ASEAN's own development during the 80s and 90s,'' Pushpanathan said.
With wages rising in China, Pushpanathan said, Japanese companies are refocusing their attention on ASEAN, which has been developing as a single market.
The Japanese private sector feels that ''maybe ASEAN is a good destination for investment because we have countries at different levels of development,'' Pushpanathan said.
ASEAN members include labor intensive countries such as Cambodia and Laos, and more advanced economies like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
''So you have a choice -- you can build a production base, you can spread out your production networks,'' Pushpanathan said.
Two-way trade between Japan and the 10 ASEAN member countries swelled 27 percent to US$203.9 billion last year.
Foreign direct investment from Japan to the region increased to $8.4 billion last year from $3.8 billion in 2009.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
